Sussan Ley faces emboldened conservative backbench after Hastie’s resignation, Liberal MPs warn

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley faces an increasingly emboldened conservative backbench bloc, Liberal MPs have warned, amid frustration and confusion over the timing of Andrew Hastie’s resignation over immigration policy.

Hastie resigned from the frontbench on Friday , saying Ley had told him he would not have a role in the formation of the Coalition’s immigration policy before the next election, despite holding the home affairs portfolio.

Hastie quit following a series of provocative policy interventions, including suggesting high levels of overseas migration under Labor were making Australians “feel like strangers in our own home”. On Saturday he insisted there was no imminent challenge to Ley’s leadership.

But Liberal MPs said the move had badly undermined plans to scrutinise the go